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Marcus Aurelius Quotes and Quotations
Nothing befalls a man except what is in his nature to endure. There is no man so blessed that some who stand by his deathbed won't hail the occasion with delight. Whatever the universal nature assigns to any man at any time is for the good of that man at that time. Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present. If thou workest at that which is before thee, following right reason seriously, vigorously, calmly, without allowing anything else to distract thee, but keeping thy divine part pure, as if thou shouldst be bound to give it back immediately; if thou holdest to this, expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to Nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this. I often marvel how it is that though each man loves himself beyond all else, he should yet value his own opinion of himself less than that of others. Life is a stranger's sojourn, a night at an inn. The art of living is more like that of wrestling than of dancing. The main thing is to stand firm and be ready for an unforeseen attack. The passing minute is every man's equal possession but what has once gone by is not ours. Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away. The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are. Nowhere can man find a quieter or more untroubled retreat than in his own soul. If thou workest at that which is before thee ... expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to Nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this. The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are. To live happily is an inward power of the soul. A man's happiness: to do the things proper to man. The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts. Vex not thy spirit at the course of things; they heed not thy vexation. How ludicrous and outlandish is astonishment at anything that may happen in life. Here is a rule to remember when anything tempts you to feel bitter: not, "This is a misfortune," but "To bear this worthily is good fortune." Adapt yourself to the things among which your lot has been cast and love sincerely the fellow creatures with whom destiny has ordained that you shall live. Love only what befalls you and is spun for you by fate. Take full account of the excellencies which you possess, and in gratitude remember how you would hanker after them, if you had them not. Try to live the life of the good man who is more than content with what is allocated to him. To them that ask, where have you seen the Gods, or how do you know for certain there are Gods, that you are so devout in their worship? I answer: Neither have I ever seen my own soul, and yet I respect and honor it. What pulls the strings is the force hidden within; there lies ... the real man. Look well into thyself; there is a source which will always spring up if thou wilt always search there. Man must be arched and buttressed from within, else the temple wavers to dust. How much time he gains who does not look to see what his neighbor says or does or thinks, but only at what he does himself, to make it just and holy. To live each day as though one's last, never flustered, never apathetic, never attitudinizing-here is perfection of character. Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away. It is not the weight of the future or the past that is pressing upon you, but ever that of the present alone. Even this burden, too, can be lessened if you confine it strictly to its own limits. Everyman's life lies within the present, for the past is spent and done with, and the future is uncertain. The sole life which a man can lose is that which he is living at the moment. Snow endures but for a season, and joy comes with the morning. Time is like a river of fleeting events, and its current is strong; as soon as something comes into sight, it is swept past us, and something else takes its place, and that too will be swept away. The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts ... take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature. A man's life is what his thoughts make it. Why do we shrink from change? What can come into being save by change? There is change in all things. You yourself are subject to continual change and some decay, and this is common to the entire universe. This is the chief thing: be not perturbed, for all things are according to the nature of the universal. Let them know a real man, who lives as he was meant to live. Vex not thy spirit at the course of things; they heed not thy vexation. How ludicrous and outlandish is astonishment at anything that may happen in life. The true worth of a man is to be measured by the objects he pursues. Without a purpose, nothing should be done. A man's worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions. A man's happiness: to do the things proper to man. The one thing worth living for is to keep one's soul pure. It is not death that a man should fear, he should fear never beginning to live. The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are. Nothing befalls a man except what is in his nature to endure. A man should remove not only unnecessary acts, but also unnecessary thoughts, for then superfluous activity will not follow. If thou workest at that which is before thee ... expecting nothing, fearing nothing, but satisfied with thy present activity according to Nature, and with heroic truth in every word and sound which thou utterest, thou wilt live happy. And there is no man who is able to prevent this. Consider how much more you often suffer from your anger and grief than from those very things for which you are angry and grieved. If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself but to your own estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment. Accept the things To which fate binds you and Love the people with whom fate Brings you together But do so with all your heart. |